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KWG blazes path to appeals court over Ring of Fire route

A fall court date has been set to hear an appeal by KWG Resources on a disputed access corridor to the Ring of Fire.
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KWG Resources’ staked mining claims on a sand ridge to the Ring of Fire for an access corridor.

A fall court date has been set to hear an appeal by KWG Resources on a disputed access corridor to the Ring of Fire.

But will the Toronto junior miner’s noted adversary, Cliffs Natural Resources, show up?

KWG announced that the Ontario Court of Appeal has set Oct. 20 as the date to hear their argument to retain control of a long string of mining claims that it wants to use for an underground slurry pipeline from its chromite deposit in the James Bay lowlands.

The respondent is Cliffs Natural Resources, which sold off its chromite properties this past spring to Noront Resources and has since departed Ontario. Both parties have until June 29 to file their materials.

KWG owns 30 per cent of the Big Daddy deposit which it once shared in an acrimonious relationship with Cliffs.

The Ontario government, through the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, is an intervenor in the proceedings.

The whole matter goes back an Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner ruling from 2013 where Cliffs sought, and was denied, an easement to build an access road atop KWG’s claims. Originally, KWG intended to use the claims as a right-of-way for a 340-kilometre long railroad to haul out chromite for processing.

Cliffs appealed to an Ontario Superior Court and won a judgement last July that set aside the commissioner’s ruling. The court found no evidence that a road built by Cliffs would interfere with KWG’s activities since the claims were staked with the intention of building a railroad.

KWG elected to appeal.

Cliffs has since experienced a change in corporate leadership and strategic direction resulting in the Ohio miner divesting itself of its Canadian mining properties, including the sale of its Black Thor deposit and other chromite assets to Noront for $27.5 million in March.